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Increasing evidence that osteoporosis begins in the womb
May 22, 2003Recent evidence to suggest that osteoporosis has its origins in the womb will be presented by leading expert, Professor Cyrus Cooper, when he speaks at a symposium on osteoporosis at FOAD 2003, the Second World Congress on the Fetal Origins of Adult Diseases (FOAD), which takes place at the Brighton Conference Centre next month (7 - 10 June). Professor Cooper is Professor of Rheumatology at the MRC Environmental Epidemiology Unit at the University of Southampton, and a member of the research team at the University's Centre for Fetal Origins of Adult Disease.
In a presentation entitled 'The Fetal Origins of Osteoporotic Fracture', Professor Cooper will describe how a phenomenon known as programming, which causes a fetus to adapt to adverse conditions such as undernourishment while in the womb, may have an effect on bone growth and might be a contributor to the later risk of osteoporotic fracture.
'We are finding that if a baby is small at birth, the child will be small at one, it will have low bone mass at 25, and this runs through until it suffers from bone trauma at 70 and hip fracture at 80,' comments Professor Cooper. 'There is increasing evidence to suggest that men and women who are undernourished in the womb and in early postnatal life, and consequently have low weight at birth and at age one year, have lower bone mass and an increased risk of fracture in late adulthood.'
Professor Cooper will describe recent evidence to support his claims and present data from studies in the USA, Scandinavia and the UK which suggest that the risk of osteoporosis in later life might be programmed by a number of environmental influences in early life. He will also describe recent studies from the MRC Environmental Epidemiology Unit, which have demonstrated that factors such as the mother's build before pregnancy, maternal smoking during pregnancy, poor maternal fat stores in mid-pregnancy and excessive levels of vigorous physical exercise during late pregnancy, are all associated with lower bone mass in new-born off-spring.
'It is becoming clearer that childhood growth rates are directly linked to hip fractures many decades later,' comments Professor Cooper. 'Preventative strategies against osteoporosis may be aimed at either increasing the peak bone mass attained, or reducing the rate of bone loss. Our research is taking us closer to being able to intervene at an early stage.'
Other speakers at the Programming of Osteoporosis symposium which will take place on Monday 9 June, are Nick Bishop, University of Sheffield and Graeme Jones, University of Tasmania.
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